Railway.



Patented Aug. 28, I900. J. SPARROW.

R A I L W A Y.

(Application filed July 11, 1899.)

(No Model.)

W/ TNE SSE S r//4 INVENTOH 60/ fii/i/z zl/ ATTOHNEYJ? THE NORRIS PETERS 00.. PHOTOZLIYHOH WASHINGTON, o. c.

JAMES srnnnow, or READING, ENGLAND,

RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 656,753, dated August 28, 19 00.

I Application filed July 11, 1899. Serial No- 723A86. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, Litres SPARROW, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Reading,in the county of Berks,England,have invented certain new and useful Improve ments in Railways, of which the following is a full and complete specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to railways; and the object thereof is to provide means whereby a double-track railway may be merged into a single-track railway without the employment of movable switches.

According to my invention cars may be moved from a double track and thence onto a single track in crowded thoroughfares or in crossing bridges, and may again be moved onto a double track, so as to freely pass each other.

Another feature of my invention consists in its applicability to single tracks and singleroad-bed railways in which turnouts may be instituted which the cars may enter and leave in passing one another without the assistance. of movable switches. These results are obtained by the construction and arrangement of tracks, all as hereinafter set forth.

My invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings form a part, inwhich like reference characters denote like parts in the several views, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a section of a railway provided with tracks constructed and arranged according to my invention; and Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged cross-sections of the railway-rails which I employ, Fig. 2 being a section of Fig. 1 on the line 3 3 and Fig. 3 a section of Fig. l on line 5 5.

Referring more particularly to the drawin gs, I provide two parallel rails A and I3 for a single road-bed, the rail A being provided with longitudinal grooves a and b and longitudinal operative bearing-shoulders c, d, and c and the rail B with longitudinal groovesf and g and longitudinal. operative bearingshoulders h,j, and it. The grooves Ct, b,f, and g are adapted to receive the flanges of the wheels and the bearing-shoulders c, d, 72 and j the rims thereof. The bearing-shoulders c and 7c are designed as guards.

At the points 0 and D of the rails A and B where the road-bed broadens to form a doubletrack switch or turnout the central shoulders d andj of the rails A and B are split to form two diverging rails consisting of the extension of projection of each of the rails A andB, as shown at E, F, G, and H, E and]? being the extensions of the rail A and G and H theextensions of the rail B, as shown in Fig. l. The rails E and F diverge at the same angle as the rails G and I'L'the rail Eextending'parallel with the rail G and the rail F with the rail H.

At the points 0 and D where the rails A The rails E, F, G, and H are provided, re-

spectively, with a central longitudinal groove 0, b,f, and g, which are respectively unbroken continuations of the grooves a and b in the rail A and the groovesf and g in the rail B. l

At either side of the groove a the rail E is provided with a longitudinal operative bearing-shoulder c and cl, which are unbroken continuations, respectively, of the shoulders c and d of the rail A. The rails F, G, and H are provided, respectively, at either side of their respective central longitudinal grooves 19', f, and g with longitudinal operative bearing-shoulders d and e, k and j and j" and h, which are respectively unbroken 'contin nations of the longitudinal shoulders dand e, k andj, and j and h of the respective rails A and B. The rails F and G cross at K, the

central groove f and shoulders d and e of the rails E. and the central groove f. and shouldersk andj of the rail G stiil retaining their identity, the'shoulders d and e bein g split to allow of the continuous formation of the grooves f and d uniting at L and the shoulders e and 7' uniting at M. The tracks E, F, G, and H again curve, respectively, at l N, O, P, and Q, and thence extend parallel, asin the case of a double track.

The operation and use of the rails construct ed and arranged as described are as follows: Suppose a car to be mounted upon each of the sets of the rails E and G and F and H. The flanges of the wheels of the car mounted upon the rails E and G- would operate within the grooves a and f, and the rims of the said Wheels would bear upon the shoulders and c.

The flanges of the Wheels of the car mounted upon the tracks F and H would operate within the grooves b and g, and the rims of said wheels would bear upon the shoulders 61 and If now either car desired to enter upon the single tracks A and B, it would move for- I ward, and upon said tracks A and B the operationof the wheels of the car mounted upon the rails E and G would be as follows; Arriving at I the crossing-point K of the rails F and G the wheel-flanges operating within the groove fv shoulder j of the rail G would pass upon the central bearing-shoulder j of the rail 13, and the wheel-flanges operating within the groove f would enter the groovesf in the rail B. Similarly the wheel-flanges operating within the groove a of the rail E on coming to the point O'would enter the groove a in the rail A, and the wheel-rim riding upon the shoulder (Z' of the rail E would pass upon the shoulder a of the rail A, and the grooves a andf of the corresponding rails E and G being continuations of the grooves a and f of the respective rails A and B. This passage of the wheels from the rails E and G to the rails A and B would be accomplished without the aid of any movable switch. In corresponding manner the wheels of the car mounted upon the rails F and H would pass upon the rails A and B, the grooves b and g, respectively, l

thereof being continuations of the grooves b and g of the rails A and B, respectively, and the shoulders cl and h of the rails F and H being, respectively, continuations of the shoulders d and h of the rails A and B. On the respective rails E, G, F, and H the shoulders d, 7;, e, andj serve as guards, as do the flanges e and 7c of the respective rails A and B.

It is evident that my invention is susceptible to many changes in the construction'and arrangement of the rails above described, and I claim all such as comewithin the spirit of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A railway-rail provided with two parallel longitudinal grooves and three longitudinal operative bearing-shoulders arranged respec-- tively at either side of-and intermediate said grooves, the said intermediate shoulder being provided with a pair of divergent extensions constituting secondary bearing shoulders springing from the end thereof, and the other bearing-shoulders being extended and curved to parallel each the next adjacent secondary bearing-shoulder, substantially as shown' and described' In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of the subscribing Witnesses, this 29th day of June, 1899.

JAMES SPARROW.

Witnesses:

JNO. PONCHAND, LESLIE J OHN ATTWELL. 

